Most western and commercialized holidays, are known or at least heard of in Korea, but are not generally celebrated. Halloween is no exception. Aside from dessert shops and coffee shops offering themed treats, Halloween passes pretty much unnoticed.
In Ulsan, we dressed up, hit the town costume-clad, and were quite the spectacle as it was a fairly small town by Korean standards. The next year in Seoul, we weren't really into the Halloween spirit, so we bought tickets to a play on Halloween night as an excuse not to celebrate. This year, with Matt & Andrea, Andrew decided to give Seoul's Halloween scene a go. They came into town, and we headed to the Hongik University area to meet up with some other friends and see where the night would take us.
~ FLASHBACK! ~
Halloween 2009 in Ulsan: Very last minute, Andrew borrowed his co-teachers old high school uniform to be Nami, a character from the elementary school English books/CDRoms and Judy decided to be the Grimace, and do a couple's costume with our friend Amy who was dressing as the Hamburglar. Andrew got crafty and attempted to sew a Grimace costume out of two purple long-sleeved shirts and a hula hoop. Naturally, it backfired and looked NOTHING like the Grimace. Fortunately, all was not lost, because with the simple addition of a white belt, the screwed up Grimace costume transformed into a near perfect Jane Jetson!
Nami, completing the final stitches to Jane's dress
Most of the gang
Hands down, the best costume of the night
~ BACK TO THE PRESENT ~
This year was not much different from Halloween in Ulsan in the respect to timing. Without being surrounded or reminded of the holiday, it's really easy to let the preparations slip out of mind until it's almost too late. The day before Halloween, Andrew was planning on being a Stormtrooper from Star Wars. On the morning of Halloween, he went to Homeplus to buy supplies, and completely changed his plans. Seeing some children's Batman costumes and later a display of men's long underwear, he was inspired! He bought a grey set of longjohns, a permanent marker, some black masking tape, a black ladies turtleneck and a sewing kit. The next few hours were spent hard at work, crafting the ordinary items into a Batman costume. The final result was actually something he was proud of. Having the skill set of a crafty mom or grandma really pays off at Halloween!
The turtleneck became the cape and mask and he used the masking tape to make the gloves and boots. Finished off with a black Speedo over the longjohns, the costume was complete!
They had to take the subway, and since he lives in the same neighborhood as many of his students, Andrew decided to further conceal his identity by adding a mustache to the costume.
The Pirate, Minnie Mouse & Batman
Who wouldn't give this guy their booty?
More self-timers:
As the batsuit was quite lacking in the pocket department, and the Speedo was only big enough to carry his wallet, phone and a pair of socks (you know why!), Batman was unable to carry the batcamera out with him that night, sorry...
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